Most flat rides decide how hard you swing before you sit down. Efteling’s newest hands a lever to the person in the seat.
What happened
Efteling and Vekoma presented Ravenring at IAAPA Expo Europe in London this month, with a working model on the stand. It opens on 1 December 2026 in Efteling’s reworked Raveleijn area, and it is the first installation of Vekoma’s new WaveCatcher ride type. Vekoma says it intends to sell WaveCatcher as a series product; no second installation has been announced.
Riders sit in one of 18 winged, raven-inspired gondolas, each seating two. An onboard lever, which the park and Vekoma call the “Swingfluencer”, lets each gondola’s occupants choose how far it swings outward during the ride. Vekoma’s Stefan Holtman, its executive sales director, described it as combining “innovation, interaction and family fun in an entirely new way”.
The detail
| Ravenring | |
|---|---|
| Park | Efteling, Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands |
| Opening | 1 December 2026 |
| Ride type | Vekoma WaveCatcher (first installation) |
| Gondolas | 18, two riders each (36 riders per cycle) |
| Ride area diameter | about 19 m (62 ft) |
| Maximum height | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Top speed | 30 km/h (19 mph) |
| Maximum swing | up to 90 degrees |
| Cycle length | about 90 seconds |
| Minimum height | 1 m (3 ft 3 in) |
| Ride investment | €5 million |
The ride sits inside a wider €20 million Raveleijn project, which Efteling splits into €10 million for a new stunt show, €5 million for renovating the area and €5 million for Ravenring itself. Boarding is at ground level, and trade reports say wheelchair transfers are possible. Our earlier piece on Efteling’s SafeStrap prosthesis restraint covers the park’s schedule for fitting that device to Ravenring from December.
What it actually means
Start with the “world’s first”. It is accurate, but narrow. Ravenring is the first installation of Vekoma’s WaveCatcher, which is true by definition of a debut. It is not the first ride to swing people outward on arms from a rotating hub, which is a very old amusement-park idea. We have not checked whether any other ride lets passengers alter its motion, so we make no claim either way. What is new is this product, and the question of how much control it really gives you.
On the mechanism, Vekoma’s published description is thin. In-Park Magazine reports a “cam-rail system” with dynamic arms: in plain terms, a profiled track that raises and lowers each gondola’s arm as the ride turns, which is where the 5 m (16 ft) height and the wave in the name presumably come from. That is our reading of a one-line description, not Vekoma’s engineering drawing. The lever then adds to that baseline motion, up to the 90-degree maximum the park quotes. Whether it changes the swing mechanically or electronically, and what the ride does if every gondola is pushed to the limit at once, has not been published.
The design choice matters more than the lever. A ride that gives riders a degree of control can serve two audiences: a four-year-old with an adult who wants a gentle turn, and a ten-year-old who wants the full 90 degrees. With a 1 m (3 ft 3 in) height limit and 30 km/h (19 mph) top speed, Ravenring is firmly a family ride, and the lever is how it stretches the audience upward without building a second ride. It is a flat ride sold on throughput and flexibility, not a headline coaster.
That also explains why Vekoma wants a series product. A reported trio of alternative themes was shown at the expo, a steampunk airship, a jungle version and a shopping-centre one, and trade site Lord-Park noted the company’s habit of turning single projects into catalogue items. Vekoma, which was recognised at the show for 100 years in business, has a long record of this; see our guide to the manufacturers. The same expo produced Vekoma’s radar-guided DRX dark ride for Gröna Lund, so the company is plainly trying to sell more than steel coasters. Efteling, meanwhile, has already cleared the ground for its much larger Missie Luminar coaster, and has now used Vekoma for the small things as well as the big one.
The Dispatch verdict
Ravenring is a modest ride with one interesting idea, and Efteling’s theming record suggests the area around it will be done properly. The open questions are mechanical: how the lever limits what riders can do, and how the cam track copes with a full day of 30 km/h cycles. A first-of-type ride gets its reliability judged over its first season, not on the stand in London. If the lever turns out to be a placebo, you will find out within a few rides; if it works, a lot of parks with an ageing swing ride will be asking for a quote.
Further reading: how Efteling’s SafeStrap prosthesis restraint works, Efteling’s Missie Luminar suspended coaster, and a guide to the roller coaster manufacturers.